UK welcomes US participation in Tempest fighter jet concept

Sur le même sujet

• 

  2 septembre 2022 | International, C4ISR

  No title found

• 

  30 octobre 2019 | International, Naval

  3 ways America can fix its vulnerability to cruise missiles

  By: Bradley Bowman and Andrew Gabel September's drone and cruise missile attack on a major Saudi energy facility highlights the challenges associated with cruise missile defense. Americans might be tempted to dismiss this attack merely as evidence of a Saudi vulnerability, with little relevance to the U.S. homeland. However, given that an American-built air defense system failed to stop the attack, this would be a mistake. As China and Russia continue to develop and deploy advanced cruise missiles to threaten the United States, urgent action is required. In recent years, the Pentagon has focused on protecting the homeland from ballistic missile attacks by building a ballistic missile defense system consisting of radars and interceptors. This system can provide some protection against a limited ballistic missile attack on the United States, but it is not designed to protect American cities from cruise missile attacks. Unlike ballistic missiles, which arc high into the atmosphere and beyond before striking their target, cruise missiles fly at low altitudes, where ground-based radars struggle to detect them. And to defeat a cruise missile, the Department of Defense must first be able to detect and track it. America's adversaries “currently hold our citizens and national interests at risk,” the commander of Northern Command, Gen. Terrence O'Shaughnessy, testified before the Senate in April. “The homeland is not a sanctuary. For that reason, improving our ability to detect and defeat cruise missile attacks is among my highest priorities.” It is not difficult to understand why. Seeing this long-standing vulnerability, America's great power adversaries have worked to improve their cruise missile capabilities. Today, for example, Russia possesses a submarine-launched cruise missile that Moscow could use to circumvent existing U.S. missile defenses and target key East Coast military bases and population centers. And the cruise missile capabilities of U.S. adversaries are only growing more formidable. In April testimony before the Senate, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy John Rood warned that potential adversaries are developing sophisticated “cruise missile systems with increased speed, range, accuracy and lethality.” For its part, Russia is developing hypersonic cruise missiles. Russian President Vladimir Putin claims one of these cruise missiles could fly as fast as nine times the speed of sound. The Kremlin is also pursuing nuclear-powered cruise missiles with virtually unlimited range. Not to be outdone, China is developing its own hypersonic cruise missiles, supplementing its existing cruise missile stocks. Against both Moscow and Beijing's cruise missile arsenals, America's current defenses are inadequate. So what's to be done? The first step is for the Department of Defense to quickly assign a lead in the Pentagon for homeland cruise missile defense, which would enable key decisions related to the homeland cruise missile defense architecture — including decisions related to sensors and shooters, as well as command and control, battle management, and communications. This would help expedite efforts to integrate ballistic missile defense and cruise missile defense. Second, Congress should support efforts to deploy without delay the space-based sensors necessary to detect, track and ultimately defeat advanced cruise missiles and other missile threats to our homeland. Third, the Department of Defense should proactively look to partner with its impressive array of allies and partners to field — both at home and abroad — advanced cruise missile defense capabilities without delay. Consider the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. These allies are already part of a long-standing intelligence sharing arrangement with the United States, known as the “Five Eyes agreement.” As Atlantic Council Senior Fellow William Greenwalt has suggested, systematically expanding this arrangement to institutionalize the shared development of military technology makes sense. Cruise missile defense might be one of several good places to start. Israel represents another obvious partner, as it possesses a proven track record on missile defense innovation, deep real-world experience, an admirable sense of urgency and a long history of cooperation with the U.S. on missile defense. Indeed, Israel and the U.S. have worked together for years to develop the Arrow and David's Sling missile defense systems. If we combine these international partnerships with the innovation prowess of the American private sector — as well as timely, predictable and sufficient funding from Congress — much can be done to address areas of shared vulnerability. That includes cruise missile defenses for both the American homeland and forward-deployed U.S. troops. The September attack on the Saudi energy facility may seem of little concern to most Americans, but that attack should serve as a warning regarding the unique challenges associated with cruise missile defense. If Iran could pull off such an attack, imagine what Moscow and Beijing may be able to do. If our great power adversaries believe a surprise cruise missile attack against the U.S. homeland or American positions abroad might succeed, it increases the chances that Beijing or Moscow would undertake such an attack. The Pentagon assessed in its Missile Defense Review earlier this year that advanced cruise missile threats to the homeland “are on the horizon.” The attack last month in Saudi Arabia suggests that horizon might be closer than Americans think. Bradley Bowman is the senior director for the Center on Military and Political Power with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, where Andrew Gabel is a research analyst. https://www.defensenews.com/opinion/commentary/2019/10/29/3-ways-america-can-fix-its-vulnerability-to-cruise-missiles/

• 

  17 janvier 2019 | International, Aérospatial

  La DARPA confie à Airbus le contrat de développement d’une plate-forme pour les petits satellites du programme Blackjack

  HERNDON, Virginie, USA, le 14 janvier 2019 - L'agence de recherche militaire américaine DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) a confié à Airbus Defense and Space Inc. un contrat visant à développer une plateforme de satellite pour la constellation du programme Blackjack. La DARPA décrit le programme Blackjack comme un prototype d'architecture destiné à démontrer l'utilité militaire des constellations globales en orbite basse et des réseaux maillés de faibles taille, poids et coût. L'Agence souhaite acquérir des bus de satellites commerciaux pour les équiper de capteurs et charges utiles militaires. Le bus fournit pour chaque satellite l'energie, le contrôle d'attitude, la propulsion et la transmission des télémesures, et permet l'intégration de charges utiles, notamment des emplacements de montage spécifiques pour des capteurs militaires. « Airbus a déjà co-investi plusieurs centaines de millions de dollars dans la technologie de production en grande série et la gestion de la chaine logistique et d'approvisionnement pour construire de grandes constellations de petits satellites », a déclaré Tim Deaver, Directeur des Programmes spatiaux américains au sein d'Airbus Defense and Space, Inc. « Airbus s'est engagé à augmenter ses capacités industrielles aux États-Unis, de sorte que nos clients gouvernementaux puissent profiter de ce levier commercial pour développer des constellations en orbite basse, en complément des grands systèmes existants. » Gr'ce à ce contrat, le site Airbus Defense and Space, Inc. de Herndon, en Virginie, et son partenaire stratégique, OneWeb Satellites, implanté sur le complexe d'Exploration Park en Floride, deviennent des prestataires de services de premier plan pour le programme Blackjack. Une chaîne d'assemblage à cadence élevée et un système de conception à coût objectif (CCO) permettent à OneWeb Satellites de proposer des solutions de constellations à faibles coûts au gouvernement américain et aux autres clients. Ces constellations de satellites peu onéreux offrent des architectures désagrégées à grande échelle améliorant la résilience dans des zones de mission très différentes. OneWeb Satellites crée des solutions spatiales d'avant-garde à forte valeur ajoutée, en concevant et fabriquant des satellites ultra performants en grande série. « Notre modèle de conception, d'approvisionnement et de production a entièrement changé la donne », a déclaré Tony Gingiss, CEO de OneWeb Satellites. « Nos équipes ont révolutionné l'industrie spatiale et nous sommes sur le point de démontrer que nous honorons nos promesses. » OneWeb Satellites utilise des capacités qui réduisent considérablement le coût et les délais d'acquisition pour les clients, gr'ce à une conception modulaire et à la production agile de satellites en série. L'usine de production de satellites de OneWeb Satellites en Floride est la dernière mesure prise par Airbus dans le cadre de sa politique de développement constant et durable de l'industrie, de l'emploi et de l'investissement aux États-Unis. Cet établissement, qui soutiendra à terme plusieurs milliers d'emplois, est le deuxième du genre après l'usine d'assemblage final des Airbus A320 à Mobile, Alabama, d'où est sorti le premier exemplaire en 2016. Une chaîne d'assemblage de l'Airbus A220 sera également construite sur ce même site à partir de janvier 2019. S'approvisionnant auprès d'un vaste réseau de fournisseurs américains, Airbus est le plus important client de produits aérospatiaux et de défense américains au monde, avec un volume d'achat supérieur à celui de n'importe quelle autre entreprise, et même nation. Airbus a investi 16,5 milliards de dollars dans des entreprises américaines en 2017, contribuant ainsi à soutenir 275 000 emplois outre-Atlantique. https://www.airbus.com/newsroom/press-releases/fr/2019/01/Airbus-wins-DARPA-contract-to-develop-small-constellation-satellite-bus-for-Blackjack-program.html